A Review of the Lenovo IdeaPad Pro 5 16IAH10 with Intel Core Ultra 9 285H and the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 15 15ILL9 with Intel Core Ultra 9 288V

Intel provided IDC with samples of the Lenovo IdeaPad Pro 5 (model 16IAH10) featuring the 16-core Intel Core Ultra 9 285H, and the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 15 (model 15ILL9), featuring the eight-core Intel Core Ultra 9 288V. Both these thin and light notebooks are solid options for business, content creation, light gaming, and other demanding tasks, but target quite different performance, battery life, and user workload requirements.

The Notebook Specifications

The two Intel Core Ultra 9 200 series CPUs take quite different approaches in terms of design. The Intel Core Ultra 9 288V is composed of two chiplet tiles. The largest tile is the CPU, NPU, and GPU complex together with the memory controllers, while the smaller input/output (IO) tile handles functions such as USB and PCIe connectivity. The Intel Core Ultra 9 285H, on the other hand, features four tiles, with separate CPU, GPU, SOC with NPU and two low-power Efficient cores, and IO tiles.

One of other big differences between the two different CPUs is that the Intel Core Ultra 9 285H notebook comes with 32GB of LPDDR5-8533 RAM soldered to the motherboard, while the Intel Core Ultra 288V has 32GB of the same speed RAM directly integrated into the CPU package itself, allowing for lower power and latency memory operations (compared to having to go off package to the motherboard for memory transactions).

The displays are both high definition (HD) – the Lenovo IdeaPad Pro 5 features a 16-inch 2.8K OLED panel with a resolution of 2880×1800, offering 500 nits of typical brightness and up to 1100 nits of peak brightness. It covers 100% of the DCI-P3 color gamut, has a 120Hz refresh rate, and supports DisplayHDR True Black 1000. The Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 15 features a 15-inch IPS screen, also 2880×1800.

Connectivity options for both include Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4, Thunderbolt 4, HDMI 2.1, USB-A, and USB-C; however, the Idea Pad Pro 5 also has an SD card reader. Audio is delivered through stereo speakers optimized with Dolby Atmos. Although both platforms support Thunderbolt 5, the feature is absent from both laptops. Lenovo’s reasoning behind this choice remains uncertain, but it misses the chance to leverage higher bandwidth for quicker data transfer, superior display capabilities, accelerated charging, and greater compatibility.
For video calls and security, the system features a Full HD 1080p camera with an infrared sensor, privacy shutter, and time-of-flight sensor.

The Laptop Look and Feel

Both notebooks are built for rugged mobility. They boast a sleek and durable design with an aluminum top and bottom, providing a premium and sturdy feel. The surfaces are anodized and sandblasted for a smooth finish, and their color is Luna Grey, giving them a modern and elegant look.

The keyboards are backlit, making it easy to type in low-light conditions. They feature a traditional layout with comfortable key travel and responsiveness. The touchpads are buttonless glass surface multi-touch touchpads, supporting Precision TouchPad technology.

The Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 15 weighs in at 1.46kg (3.2lbs) and is a true thin and light notebook. The Lenovo IdeaPad Pro 5 weighs 1.72kg (3.79lbs), which makes it relatively lightweight and portable, considering its powerful specifications and large display. This combination of robust chassis, comfortable keyboard, high-resolution screens, slim profiles, and light weight makes both a great choice for work and play — but the differences mean that the products are targeted at quite different use cases. The Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 15 with the Intel Core Ultra 0 288V is focused on all-day productivity and mobility, while the Lenovo IdeaPad Pro 5 with the Intel Core Ultra 285H is geared more toward supporting high-performance mobile workloads such as content creation or design and rendering activities.

The Intel Core Ultra 9 288V

Built on TSMC’s N3B process, the Intel Core Ultra 9 288V features four Performance cores and four low-power Efficiency cores coupled with 12MB of cache, and is targeted at all-day efficiency performance for sustained productivity. Single-thread performance is competitive, with the Performance cores reaching up to 5.1GHz and the Efficient cores up to 3.7GHz.